Chapter 5: Windows ADM Templates

Thanks to Derek Melber for original material in the first edition of this chapter.

Overview

Group Policy has lots of nooks and crannies in which many options can be set. It's likely you'll spend most of your time manipulating the Administrative Templates section. Consequently, you need to know where all these settings come from.

In Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows 2003, by default the ADM (administrative) templates come in many varieties. Searching through the Administrative Templates section for a policy setting you want to deploy can sometimes be a challenge, however. Occasionally, the policy setting you're hoping to find isn't even a real option. However, the great thing about the Administrative Templates section is that if you can't find a specific policy setting that you need, you can often create your own! Once created, policy settings can be imported into the Group Policy Editor as ADM templates.

These templates hold the key to almost any change on our target systems. They are so important and powerful because they alter the Registry on the target computer. The ADM template holds the Registry settings that can be toggled on or off through the Group Policy Object Editor, where the administrator can modify the settings. Then, when the client system is booted or the user logs on, the Registry is altered based on what was manipulated within the Group Policy Object Editor. The target Windows 2000 client computer simply embraces the settings automatically.

Regardless of whether you want to use the default templates or create your own, you will need to fully understand the syntax in one of these ADM templates. After you understand the syntax, you can create, modify, and troubleshoot almost any Registry change that is implemented by the Administrative Templates in the Group Policy Object Editor.

Additionally, if you're gung ho to use the new power that Windows XP/Service Pack 2 and Windows 2003 / Service Pack 1 provides, I suggest you jump right to the middle of this chapter, and check out the section titled "Managing Windows ADM Templates."

Note 

You'll find the complete reference for creating your own ADM templates in "ADM Template Syntax" on this book's website.



Group Policy, Profiles, and IntelliMirror for Windows 2003, Windows XP, and Windows 2000
Group Policy, Profiles, and IntelliMirror for Windows2003, WindowsXP, and Windows 2000 (Mark Minasi Windows Administrator Library)
ISBN: 0782144470
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 110

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